How to judge late height development

Children's physical development characteristics are different at different ages. Height is an important criterion for measuring a child's development, but there are many factors that affect height. Simply comparing with other children is inevitably inaccurate. Every child’s situation is different, and their physical development characteristics are also different, so reasonable acute judgment is very important. So, how do you determine if height development is late? Let’s take a look at the method below.

2. When entering puberty, boys can grow 20 to 30 cm and girls can grow 15 to 25 cm. After puberty, height growth gradually slows down and then stops (usually after girls' menarche and boys' voice change and nocturnal emission).

Careful parents can refer to the above rules, or compare with children of the same age. If they find obvious abnormalities or their children's levels are significantly lower than the average level of children of the same age, they should go to the hospital (preferably a pediatric endocrinology specialist) in time to consult relevant experts. If there is growth hormone deficiency, the child should show signs of developmental delay compared to children of the same age at around 2 years old. If parents are careful, it will not be difficult to discover the abnormality in the child. Seeking medical treatment early can avoid lifelong regrets.

Since a child's height is affected by so many factors, is it impossible to judge how tall a child can grow?

The answer is no. Although there are many factors that affect height, the decisive factor is still the parents' genes, and acquired factors such as diseases only account for a small part. Therefore, under normal circumstances, we can still make a preliminary estimate of the child's final height based on the parents' height.

The most commonly used simple and rough methods are as follows.

Girl's height = (father's height in centimeters + mother's height in centimeters - 13) / 2

Boy's height = (father's height in centimeters + mother's height in centimeters + 13)/2

Based on this median value, a fluctuation of 5 cm above or below is within the normal range.

For example: the father is 170 cm tall and the mother is 160 cm tall, then the daughter's possible final height is (170+160-13)/2±5 cm, that is, 153.5 cm-163.5 cm; the son's height is (170+160+13)/2±5 cm, that is, 166.5 cm-176.5 cm.

The difference between true "late growth" and true "short growth"

It is true that some children do not experience accelerated growth when normal children enter puberty, but experience a rapid growth in height after other children stop growing or their growth slows down. This condition is called "constitutional growth retardation" in medicine, commonly known as "late growth" among the people, which requires a certain genetic background.

These children begin puberty later and therefore experience a later growth spurt during puberty. Because they do not experience the accelerated growth that occurs during puberty in normal children, they are inevitably shorter than their fully developed peers at this age. When they enter puberty, they will experience accelerated growth like normal children and reach their proper genetic height.

But as we have always emphasized, more children are not growing late, but are short in stature, and the longer the delay, the greater the height gap. Therefore, parents should not take chances. During the growth and development of their children, no matter at which age they experience height lag or a slowdown in growth rate, it is most scientific to seek medical help in a timely manner.